Man nearly sucked out of window mid-air on Ryanair plane

A man was nearly sucked head-first out of a cabin window in mid-air on a Ryanair plane, passengers have said.

Tracking data shows the plane was in the air for about 10 minutes when it abruptly descended 9,000ft (2,700m), with passengers telling local media they heard "some kind of explosion", the BBC reported.

A Greek hospital official said a 61-year-old Serbian national was being treated for friction burns. "His wife held onto his legs for around five minutes to stop him from being sucked out," Michalis Giannakos said.

In a statement, Ryanair said its Friday morning flight from the Greek city of Thessaloniki to Germany's Memmingen returned "shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged in flight".

"The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki," the Irish budget airline said.

It added that "a replacement aircraft was arranged to bring passengers to Memmingen" several hours later.

Passengers have told local media the man was left hanging head first out of the window as far as his shoulders before other passengers managed to pull him back inside.

Those on board have also said the window was smashed by pieces of the jet's engine - although Ryanair has not commented on this.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) earlier told the BBC it was aware of the incident and would provide any assistance to investigators.

Chris Brady, a retired airline pilot, told the BBC the incident "could have been worse" had the seat belt been not fastened.

"We do, as captains always say to the passengers, please keep your seat belts fastened as a precaution in flight, even when we switch the belt signs off.

"And it's for exactly this sort of thing or for turbulence encounters or whatever. So it is good practice to leave your seat belts on," he said.

In 2018, a passenger died when debris from a damaged engine caused a window to break on a Southwest Airlines flight in the US, and she was partially sucked out.